Secrets of the Coast Star revealed

Thursday

Sep 27, 2007 at 2:00 AM

It's been six months since I signed on for a full-time gig here at the York County Coast Star and I figured it was time I wrote a column dispelling the myths, uncovering the truth and spilling the beans on the secret lives of my colleagues. So fasten your seatbelts, reader, it's going to be a bumpy ride ...;

Laura Dolce

It's been six months since I signed on for a full-time gig here at the York County Coast Star and I figured it was time I wrote a column dispelling the myths, uncovering the truth and spilling the beans on the secret lives of my colleagues. So fasten your seatbelts, reader, it's going to be a bumpy ride ...;

So when I first started this job I'll admit, I hit a few bumps in the road, knocked a few noses out of joint. And a couple of times following those bumps/knocks I was told, "Well, Jim Kanak never ...;" As it turns out, while I followed Josh Bodwell as this paper's Kennebunk and Kennebunkport reporter, Jim covered that beat before. And though Jim now covers Wells and Ogunquit, it appears no one has ever forgotten the swell job Jim has done here. This, dear reader, is because Jim is simply one of the nicest guys you'll meet. His inability to grow pumpkins notwithstanding, Jim is a fine writer and an extremely kind person. Both of our Coast Star interns even like him better — and one of them's my daughter. That just says it all, doesn't it?

Along those lines, here's a few other things you might not know about my colleagues:

Yes, Dana Pearson really is that funny. We don't tell him this much, because we figure it will go right to his head, but the guy really cracks us up. In fact, he's even funnier in person than in his columns, but since some of the stuff he says isn't necessarily fit for print (or we're just too selfish to share it), the rest of you may never know how funny Dana really is. But rest assured he keeps us in stitches with tall tales about his struggles with appliances and such, PLUS he knows the lines from every Mel Brooks film ever made AND everything of note that's happened in Kennebunk within the last 100 years. That kind of stuff may not be all that useful in the real world, but it makes him a hoot in the newsroom. Speaking of hoots ...;

Our two Kennebunk High School interns, Emily O'Connell and Hannah Hussey, not only amaze us with their talent and drive, but keep us laughing with their newsroom antics. For example, we sent Emily to the supply closet last week for a new pen and she came out dressed as a pirate. This was as funny as it was startling, but it turns out she'd stumbled across a cache of old Halloween costumes. Pretty soon, the girls had crazy hats perched on their computers in the newsroom (and Jim had one, too, leading us to realize, once again, that everyone likes him better). Their youth and exuberance is refreshing in a newsroom where not all of us are, shall we say, on the good side of 40. Of course, some of us are still keeping active, which brings me to my next secret ...;

Yes, Dan King really is that into golf. He can name golf courses quicker than most people can name their children and seems to have quite a nice supply of golf shirts. I have yet to see him endure through a winter when the ground is frost-bitten and covered in snow, but I can't imagine that will be pretty. Thank God the Celtics will be playing then, because they seem to be a pretty close second on Dan's favorites scale.

And speaking of favorites (besides Jim, that is), community coordinator Brooke Beaucage is certainly a new favorite of mine. Besides being the hardest-working person here (a title she shares with our wonderful designer, Laura Snyder Smith), Brooke not only makes me smile but shares my deep abiding need for chocolate. That is invaluable in a co-worker.

And speaking of invaluable, that word best describes our photographer, Kevin Byron. Of course, not only have Kevin and I marched our way through two protests, braved a tiny rowboat on the wind-swept sea and faced down over-exuberant guard dogs in search of a story, we've had some truly hilarious times as well. I'm not sure I will soon forget seeing him attempt to take pictures from a moving vehicle while trying to steer the car with his knees (and will swear I never saw this if questioned by police), but while photos like those are good, his nature photography is just stunning.

And speaking of stunning ...; That's probably a good word for describing what our newsroom isn't. Someone recently asked me if our newsroom was anything like the one on Mary Tyler Moore and I was honestly able to say no (while giggling hysterically). As I write this, the arm has fallen off my chair again and the cobwebs sway overhead. But while our newsroom is about as far from glamorous as you can get, here's one thing it has going for it: It's right in the heart of downtown and open to any readers who care to stroll in and share their stories. That, more than any fancy office furniture, is what matters most to a good community newspaper.

And make no mistake, the York County Coast Star is a good community newspaper. I should know, because I've seen plenty of bad ones in my 20-plus years in the business. Of course, any paper can be better — and all of us here work every day with that goal in mind. That's what makes it so great to be here, broken chair and all.

Lastly, I've heard people say the Coast Star doesn't get read that widely or that no one pays too much attention to our ads or stories. Here's how I know that's not true: When we ran our original story on Shiloh Pepin, the young girl from Kennebunkport born with Mermaid Syndrome, the number of hits on our Web site, icoaststar.com, set new records for the paper. The tech folks tell us that the stories continue to get hundreds of hits, at times clogging the system. Further, we've heard from people across the country who have read the story, either online or passed along by friends, and were touched enough to want to help. That's not even counting the folks right here in our local coverage area who have responded.

When one story touches so many people, and can help make a difference in one child's life, that's what I call power of the press.

And when six months can be filled with so many wonderful stories to tell, that's what I call a pretty cool job. So even if you do like Jim Kanak a bit better, or Dana's columns make you laugh more, I'll be sticking around, because as long as there are stories to tell and people to read them, this is where I want to be — and that's no secret.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service